An introduction to the principles of art, especially focal point, contrast, emphasis, and pattern. Based on "Gateways to Art" (2012) by DeWitte, Larman, and Shields.

1. Art Appreciation
Professor Paige Prater
T, R, 9:30-10:50AM
A850

2. 10 ELEMENTS of Art:
1. Color
2. Form
3. Line
4. Mass
5. Shape
6. Space
7. Texture
8. Time/Motion
9. Value
10. Volume

3. 10 PRINCIPLES of Art:
1. Unity
2. Variety
3. Balance
4. Emphasis
5. Focal Point
6. Pattern
7. Proportion
8. Rhythm
9. Scale
10. Contrast

4. Emphasis
• Drawing attention to particular content
– VS SUBORDINATION (drawing attention away from
particular content)

5. Emphasis
Double-chambered vessel
with mouse, Recuay, Peru,
4th–8th century. Ceramic, 6”
high. Metropolitan Museum
of Art, New York

6. Emphasis
Jules Olitski, Tin Lizzie Green, 1964. Acrylic and oil/wax
crayon on canvas, 10’10” x 6’10”. Museum of Fine
Arts, Boston, Massachusetts

7. NO Emphasis
Mark Tobey, Blue Interior, 1959.
Tempera on card, 44 x 28”

8. Focal Point
• The particular part of emphasis to which the
artist draws our eye

9. Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, c. 1555–8.
Oil on canvas, mounted on wood, 29 x 44⅛”. Musées Royaux des
Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels, Belgium

10. EMPHASIS & FOCAL POINT
• Directional Line
• Contrasting Values
Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith
Decapitating Holofernes, c. 1620. Oil
on canvas, 6’6⅜” x 5’3¾“. Uffizi
Gallery, Florence, Italy

11. EMPHASIS & FOCAL POINT
 water is the focal
point conceptually
as well as visually
The Emperor Babur Overseeing his
Gardeners, India, Mughal period, c.
1590. Tempera and gouache on
paper, 8¾ x 5⅝”. Victoria and Albert

12. •
•
•
•
3 separate focal points
Position
Shape
Rhythm
Ando Hiroshige, “Riverside Bamboo
Market, Kyobashi,” from One Hundred
Famous Views of Edo, 1857. 15 x 10⅜”.
James A. Michener Collection, Honolulu
Academy of Arts, Hawaii

13. Contrast
• Very different elements right next to each
other

14. CONTRAST
Francisco de Zurbarán,
The Funeral of St.
Bonaventure, 1629. Oil
on canvas, 8' 2” x 7' 4”.
Musée du Louvre,
Paris, France

15. Rehash…
 ALL the elements and principles of art can serve to
create EMPHASIS
 Both actual and implied lines shape our examination
of a work of art by directing the movement of our
gaze
 Contrasts between different values, colors, or
textures can sometimes be so dramatic and distinct
that we cannot help but feel drawn to that area of a
work

16. PATTERN
• Recurrence of an element
– Motif – repeated design as a unit within a pattern
• Repetition creates UNITY
comes from repetition!

17. RHYTHM/PATTERN

18. Suzanne Valadon, The Blue Room, 1923. Oil on canvas,  × 45⅝”. Musée
35½
National d’Art Moderne,
Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France

19. Great Mosque of Córdoba, prayer hall of Abd alRahman I, 784–6

20. Motif
Huqqa base, India,
Deccan, last quarter of
17th century. Bidri ware
(zinc alloy inlaid with
brass), 6⅞ x 6½ in.
Metropolitan Museum of
Art, New York

21. Chuck Close,
Self Portrait, 1997. Oil
on canvas, 8’6” × 7’.
MOMA, New York

24. Motif vs. RANDOMNESS
• Dada movement
• “chance”
• Random
arrangement
• Hans Arp, Trousse d’un
Da,1920–21. Assemblage of
driftwood nailed onto wood
with painting remains, 15 x
10½ x 1¾”.  Musée
National d’Art
Moderne, Centre Georges
Pompidou, Paris, France